Birthright
by Emo LionDancer Team
Summary: The Holy Roman Empire never fell. Instead he returned, and ruled with Italy at his side. Sounds sweet, right? It is, until you start looking deeper...Never underestimate the blood of the Roman Empire.
1. Chapter 1

**Birthright**

**Summary:**

Holy Rome never died. He fulfilled his promise and returned to Italy, ruling alongside him as the most powerful empire in Europe. They were able to stay together, their love growing stronger as the years passed, with no impending war threatening them. Sounds sweet, right? It is, until you start to look deeper.

Never underestimate the blood of the Roman Empire.

**A/N**:

**LionDancer17:** so, this is a collaboration between LionDancer17 and Emo Vampire Chic. It's an idea we've been working on for a while, actually. We both have a specialty when it comes to dark empires, and this idea was just begging to be done. ;)

xxX(_Prologue_)Xxx

Fire pressed upon them, ashes drifting through the air, dancing like snowflakes in the wind. The land itself was scarred, painted black and crimson from the blood of humans, and the fire that roared through the land, greedily feasting upon the earth, destroying everything in its destructive storm.

Through it all, two armies stood. One was a bond forged from necessity and steel, bonds of love and fear tied them together. They fought for their freedom, for their right to live separate from the rest, for their right to live itself. They fought for themselves and each other, be it family or friendship that held them together, or even just strength in numbers.

The other was an army of right. They were marked by God, blessed with his strength, with the divine claim to power. They were descendants of power, it swam through their veins, like red laced with white. It was the thing that drove them, the thing that enabled them to conquer so much. They were God's army, his children marked with divine power.

At the front of them was a boy, almost a man. His dark robes fell over him like a veil, like silk set into flight by the power he held, the strength of most of Europe in his palm. The second was a boy his age, his amber eyes hardened to steel by the war he's seen. He carried the power of Rome at his fingertips, blessed with the power of the Empire before him.

And yet, there was something more in those golden eyes. A realization. A hesitance. A hint of innocence buried in their cold surface.

A different man stood at the front of the alliance, his cold blue eyes aged with much more than others could see. They were eyes that had seen empires rise and fall, eyes that had seen innocence and beauty burn, and eyes that had lost so much, but gained even more.

Those eyes had seen a woman truly blessed by God. He would not allow them to use her blessing, and twist it into some kind of false divine justice.

The boy cloaked in black raised his sabre, the light gleaming off of the metal, as if God was kissing its surface, ensuring its victory. Beside him, the boy with amber eyes held his cross in his fingers, praying for victory.

The two armies surged forward.

A dagger was drawn.

Blood was spilled.

And the boy with amber eyes began to cry.

XXXxxXXXxxxXXX

**A/N **

**LionDancer17: **Well, here's the prologue. Just to avoid confusion, it takes place later in the story. We still have a lot of plot to go through, please review!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N

**LionDancer17:** So we begin the second chapter. I do hope you guys enjoy this, my broski and I enjoyed writing it! ^_^ Dark empires are so fun to write. Just so you know, we both have very distinct writing styles, so I hope it doesn't get too confusing.

**Emo Vampire Chic: **Hey guys, what's up, I am the other half of the team that rights this story, and this is also my first appearance in the stories, as an author. I wrote the whole 2nd half of this chapter; you can probably tell where I took over, so yeah leave so feedback and tell me and liondancer17 what you think

Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to Himuraya

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><p>XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX<p>

Golden light spilled over the emerald hills, throwing them into brilliant illumination. A sweet breeze danced through the air, whistling through the trees, and laying gentle kisses upon the two figures engulfed in the morning light. One was a blonde boy dressed in black, and the other was an auburn-haired boy in white. A cross was around the boy's neck, and gentle white spilled over his lanky figure, a sharp contrast to the one beside him. The boy in black held a paintbrush in his hands, and a canvas lay before him, imprinted with the colours of the beautiful dawn.

"I just can't get it right. You do it, I'm no good at art." The Holy Roman Empire sighed, removing the paintbrush from the canvas. He tried to give it to Italy, but the other nation smiled at him, and instead took the empire's hand within his. A light brush dusted across the empire's face, and Italy laughed. He directed the Holy Rome's hand to the canvas, touching the tip of the brush to the painting.

"You have the right technique; you just need to mix the colours a bit more. If you gently brush over the painting, then you can mix the colours, making it look more natural, see?" he said. He guided Holy Rome's hand across the painting, blurring the fading lines of the sky, mixing red with gold, and pink with blue. Holy Rome's hand was clenched tight around the brush, his face turning a light scarlet. Italy dipped the brush in gold, and guided it to the rising sun.

"Start at the center, and move out with quick, light strokes. Like this." Once again, the colours blurred, beginning to get darker as they moved out. Italy shifted closer to the young empire, and he rested his chin on Holy Rome's shoulder, and he rested his elbow in the crook of the other's. He dipped the brush in red, and shifted it towards the top of the painting.

"You could also shade in areas darker, to give the impression of clouds. Maybe colouring it in lighter colours at the bottom, the light of the sun shining on it." Italy continued. Once again he began blending the colours, but this time he added dark, blotchy red clouds around the rising sun. He outlined the tops with pink and gold, giving the impression of light overlaying the red-stained clouds. Holy Rome began relaxing slightly, leaning back slightly onto Italy, who smiled. The blush on the Empire's face was still heavy and prominent, but he allowed himself to enjoy this little moment.

"What about birds flying? Could we add those as well?" Holy Rome asked. Italy dipped the brush in water, and then dipped it in black, moving it back to the painting.

"_Sì_, just add gentle strokes at where you want them to fly, like this." Italy replied, lightly brushing against the painting. He tightened his fingers around the Empire's hands, enjoying the warmth. Holy Rome's hand was not callused like one would expect, at least, not heavily. Though he held scars on his hands, his back, and his chest, he was still very new and young, and still had great ideas for the world. He was chosen to unite them all under God's will, a prodigy, someone who would stop wars and bring peace, with Italy at his side. He already conquered France, and stopped Napoleon. He was going to claim the new world, Asia, and the rest of Europe. He was going to be great, the next legend. All he had to do was stop his rivals, Spain, England, and whatever allies they may have.

At least, that's what Italy heard.

"Do you think…you could add us in there somewhere?" Holy Rome asked. Italy giggled slightly.

"What do you mean _me_? You're the one painting." Italy replied. Holy Rome flashed a small smile, and the blush deepened.

"Well, then could you _help_ me add us?" he asked. Italy didn't reply, he added more black, and faced Holy Rome.

"What should we be doing?" Italy asked. Holy Rome looked away, and mumbled something.

"What did you say?" Italy asked. Holy Rome turned a deeper red, and mumbled even softer.

"Ve, Holy Rome, I can't hear you. What is it?" Italy asked. The Empire took a deep breath, and tried again.

"I-I said, well, you, I mean _we_ could paint us…well…k-" but before he could finish his sentence, a shadow fell across both of the nations. Italy looked up, and met the gaze of Austria.

"I'm sorry, but I need you two to come with me to the meeting. We're making plans to take down Spain, so we're going to have to have you there." Austria announced. Holy Rome and Italy exchanged glances, and the Empire stood up. Italy quickly covered up the paint jars, and he tucked the slightly wet painting under his arm, careful not to smear it.

"Alright, let's go." Holy Rome replied, his face completely stony and cold. The three nations began to walk away, just as the sun finally broke the horizon.

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><p>XXXxxxX(Ecuador's POV)XxxxXXX<p>

I walked down the familiar halls of the house I used to live in. I hated being back here, I hated being in this place. For so long I had been fighting to get out, a simple return to it just seemed to fill me with fire. I stopped at the end of the hall, facing two large wooden, double doors. I took a breath trying to calm myself.

Everything is all right, Edgar, I told myself, It is only a meeting, it means nothing, after this I can go back home. I reached for the large doorknob, catching a bit of my reflection in it. I saw my dark short hair, and my dark coffee skin. I looked up from the knob and gazed at my hand, the light lines on them began to burn, making the scars swell a bit, as if they knew I was about to come face to face with the person who did this to me, who made me bear these scar. I opened the door to the room, and was overwhelmed as I heard that chatting of all my siblings in various different languages ranging from English to Portuguese and Spanish. I walked in and my eyes wander for him, Spain. I had to know why he had made us all come here, he had said it was " muy importante," I had to know if it was worth my time. I looked at all the familiar faces, becoming confused when I did not find him, but I stopped my search as I felt two small arms wrap around me. I turned startled by the embrace until I saw the embracer, it was Lina, Lina Loayza , lovely country of Bolivia. She has been my best friend, ever since we were kids together in the Incan Empire. She had lovely light tan skin, the contradicted to my dark coffee tone, and light brown eyes that made mine look like nothing but dirt colored.

"Hola Edgar," she said greeting me with a sweet friendly smile. I smiled back.

"Que Tal, Lina?" I asked her, surprised by how long it has been since our last meeting, considering we don't live that far away from each other you would think we would get to see more of each other.

"Ah you know, as great as I can be under that old Espana's rule," she rolled her eyes as she said his name, a reaction that seemed common among most of the other countries that were still colonies lately it seemed that a lot of the colonies were quick to get away from Spain. At first Spain put up quite a fight before letting his precious colonies go, I should know, I happened to be within the first batch of those who were the first decided to defy Spain, and it seems that since so many of his colonies left him that he has really stopped fighting. The Holy Roman Empire was closing in on him, and at this point he could not spend his time or his money on fight reckless children, it seemed a far bigger fight was to begin for him soon.

"Hola Chicos," Spain said turning both Bolivia and my attention away to the very man we were just speaking of. We turned to see him as the talking began to die down, Antonio. He stood there, and for a moment I did not recognize him, rather than the silly smile he always wore his mouth was made in to a serious, hard line, his happy eyes were now stress and angry. Rather than standing confident and strong he stood slouched and tired. His hair was amiss and messed up; it looked like bed head though his face looked like he hadn't slept. "I'm sure most of you are wondering why I asked all of you to come here?" he said causing a bit of chatter to start up in the sea of Countries and colonies. There was a small Italian looking boy at his side that seemed to look annoyed by how Spain seemed to have no control over the crowd. Spain cleared his throat alerting everyone to quite down. "There reason I called you here was not so we could all "catch up" I am sure by now you have heard of the serious business that is happening in the world. The Holy Roman Empire is going around the world claiming everything they can, recently they were able to obtain France, which proves that they are making their way down to me. The last thing I want is to be involved in an Empire, I value my freedom, just like I am sure most of you do, so I am asking that maybe those of you who are free now, stand with me, help me keep my freedom. Think of me not as the man who has held your from your freedom, but as the man who has raised you all, as your papi. Mis Chicos I need you, I fear that if I do not get the help I need I fear I will fall to them, and I know that when I fall you it won't be too long before all of you do too. I am asking those of you who are free, please, por favor, please help me! If you can, spare me you military, if not that then some money, please, anything, anything you have to offer, this Empire, I have no doubt in my mind that they are planning to claim everything, that includes you, all of you, so let us fight together, as a family." He sighed as he saw the look of reluctance on many of their faces.

"And what about the colonies, what are we to do?" I heard Cuba, Jorge Martinez, shout. Spain frowned at hearing this question asked, it seemed like he was trying to avoid it but someone had to ask it.

"All the colonies that are still under my control will fight for me, they will fund me and also allow me to have full access to their armies," Spain stated simply, there was an uproar from the crowd all colonies or friends of colonies. Bolivia next to me seemed to shout out a string of curses in Spanish all directly at Spain, Spain's smile shrunk even more. "I'll let all of you think it over, I just wanted to tell you all together rather than separate, with that he left, the little Italian boy that I remember he called "Romano" trailed after him. Tons of shouting filled the room as the colonies showed how pissed off they were and I saw as many of the countries as showed their deep distaste for the situation. I looked around unaffected. Many of them were focused on Spain's actions and his words, but none of them really seemed to see his face, the way his eyes seemed dead and his voice seemed desperate.

"God damn that bastard idiota!" Bolivia said next to me. "He treats us like we don't have rights! I swear, this finishes it I am becoming independent!"

"I'm not so sure you want to do that chica," I told her unable to get the picture of Spain out of my head.

"And why not?" she screamed really pissed of.

"Because, he is right, if they get him then they will only come after you, not to mention, look at that guy, do you really want to leave him like that, he looks like he knows he is going to lose, he knows his children won't help him, and I don't understand why we shouldn't he is our father, even if he didn't act like it all the time." I told making it clear I was his only supporter at this point.

"And what about our people, Edgar? The Incas for us, the Aztecs for Mexico after everything he has done to us, why should we help him?" she asked me. I smiled at her.

"You are still such a child." I said to her making her get even more pissed. "You cannot hold on to petty grudges and losses, it will be the end of you one day, however, I'm getting this feeling, I feel like if I don't help Spain then something bad is going to happen, to all of us." She gazed up at me, knowing from when we were children that my feelings never lie. She nodded, but she stilled seemed unsure.

"Alright, so say we do help Spain, how the hell are we going to convince the others?"

Well," I said. "I got you to help, let's see if it will work on the others." I could tell we had a long road ahead of us.

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><p><strong>Emo Vampire Chic: Alrighty, just an FYI this story is set in 1815, and there were still some Spanish colonies then however there were A LOT, and if you include the countries that were independent already you have A LOT of countries my friend, I mean if Spain's hot ass doesn't clue you in that he is a whore then look at how many kids he has XD. Anyway I decided since this is an AU and the HRE is still around that some countries could be independent already, so here is who I have for characters that are still colonies\ common wealth: Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panama, Argentina and Chile, there will be others helping them, but you'll have to wait to find those out ;D<strong>


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